Call for Papers

Picturing Otherness: The Historical Construction of Diversity in Western Children's Literature

Guest Editors: Maria Lucenti and Michelle Anya Anjirbag

Taking as its starting point a selection of articles developed from papers presented at the 2023 Picturing Otherness conference, this guest-edited, themed issue engages the conference’s central theme: a critical exploration of how children’s and young adult literature has historically framed, constructed and contested representations of diversity.

Children’s literature has long operated in a dual capacity: while often reflecting and reinforcing dominant cultural norms, it has also served as a space of resistance and imagination, where authors and illustrators have challenged hegemonic definitions of identity and belonging. This issue explores this tension, analyzing how narratives for young readers have historically constructed “otherness” and how, at their most powerful, they have also dismantled exclusionary paradigms.

Picturing Otherness aims to critically examine the evolving portrayal of diversity in children’s literature across the 20th and 21st centuries. It interrogates how stories have positioned alterity – as exotic, flawed, peripheral, or dangerous – but also how they have reclaimed and redefined it as central to a shared human experience. This reimagining involves not only the inclusion of marginalized voices but also the active deconstruction of the binary logic of “us” and “others,” revealing the colonial, racist, sexist, and imperialist forces that have historically shaped literary production and cultural narratives.

In recent years, children’s literature has increasingly embraced the call for inclusive representation. Yet, empirical studies continue to show significant underrepresentation and stereotyping of non-dominant identities. Despite a growing body of work that challenges these patterns, much of the field still reflects narrow constructions of race, gender, class, ability, and culture.

This issue calls for interdisciplinary contributions that engage with children's literature as a political and pedagogical space where ideas of identity, normalcy, and difference are formed, contested, and reimagined.

We invite contributions on a wide range of themes related to diversity and representation in children’s literature. Topics might include how stories have reinforced or challenged dominant norms; the persistence of stereotypes; the rise of resistant, non-conforming characters; and portrayals of historical trauma. We also welcome analyses of intersectional identities, the influence of visual culture on perceptions of difference, the commercialization of diversity, educational uses of literature to foster empathy and inclusion, and the dynamics of canon formation and exclusion.

Deadline: December 31, 2025

https://utppublishing.com/journals/jeunesse/call-for-papers-picturing-otherness

Key References

• Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE). (2024). Reflecting Realities. Survey of Ethnic Representation within UK Children’s Literature 2023, https://clpe.org.uk/research/clpe-reflecting-realities-survey-ethnic-representation-within-uk-childrens-literature-2.
• Chetty, D., & Sands-O’Connor, K. (2025). Beyond the Secret Garden Children’s: Racially Minoritised People in British Children's Books. English and Media Centre.
• Crisp, T., Knezek, S.M.; Quinn, M.; Bingham, G.E.; Girardeau, K. & al. (2016). What’s on Our Bookshelves? The Diversity of Children’s Literature in Early Childhood Classroom Libraries. Journal of Children's Literature, Vol. 42, Iss. 2: 29-42.
• Dahlen, S.P. (2020). “We Need Diverse Books”: Diversity, Activism, and Children’s Literature. In: op de Beeck, N. (eds) Literary Cultures and Twenty-First-Century Childhoods. Literary Cultures and Childhoods. Palgrave Macmillan.
• Koss, M. D. (2015). Diversity in Contemporary Picturebooks: A Content Analysis. Journal of Children's Literature, 41(1), 32–42.
• Monoyiou, E., & Symeonidou, S. (2015). The wonderful world of children’s books? Negotiating diversity through children’s literature. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 20(6), 588–603.
• Naidoo, J. C., & Dahlen, S. P. (Eds.). (2012). Diversity in youth literature: Opening doors through reading (Illustrated ed.). American Library Association.
• Ramdarshan Bold, M. (2019). Inclusive young adult fiction: Authors of colour in the United Kingdom. Palgrave Macmillan.
• Thomas, E. E. (2019). The dark fantastic: Race and the imagination from Harry Potter to the Hunger Games. New York University Press.
• Thomas, E. E., & Dahlen, S. P. (Eds.). (2022). Harry Potter and the other: Race, justice, and difference in the wizarding world. University Press of Mississippi.
• Thomas, E. E., Coleman, J. J., & Griffin, A. A. (2023). Restorying young adult literature: Expanding students’ perspectives with digital texts. National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
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